Wildlife Trust Running Bee And Botany Walks

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust are holding a series of Bee and Botany walks to each island next week.

They’ll be joined by Mark Spencer, a Senior Curator in the Botany Department of the Natural History Museum and regular visitor to Scilly.

Julie Love from the Trust said Mark is visiting with a group of volunteers, paid for as part of the Museum’s Community Outreach programme.

They’ll be performing surveys of the flora and fauna on all the islands while they’re over here.

Julie says they’ll be looking in particular at how some of the smaller, and rarer exotic plants introduced to the islands are interacting with the native plants.

They’ll also investigate how global warming could affect other invasive plants such as pittosporum, which could become a problem in the future here.

For people joining the walks, Mark will be highlighting the ‘botanical delights’ on the islands while Julie will be describing how you can identify the different bee species in Scilly including the difference between bumblebees and honeybees.

There might also be a chance to catch a glimpse of the rare Scilly bee, says Julie.

They’ve had two reported sightings of the insect so far this year, but they can’t be confirmed because there’s no photographic evidence. So remember to take your camera!

The walks will be taking place on Tresco on Sunday, St. Agnes on Monday, Bryher on Tuesday, St. Martin’s on Friday and St. Mary’s on Saturday.

Walks will tie in with St. Mary’s tripper boats as walk leaders will be travelling from there and they’ll wait on the destination quay for anyone who wishes to join.